Scaffold-bracket.



W. A. SGHOENING. SGAFFOLD BRACKET. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 7, 1910.

1,025,886. I 4 Patented May 7, 1912.

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COLUMBIA FLANOGRAPH CO.,WASHINGT N WILLIAM A. SCI-IOENING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SCAFFOLD-BRACKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 7, 1912.

Application filed November 7, 1910. Serial No. 591,138.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, W'ILLIAM A. SOHOEN- ING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Scalfold-Brackets, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates more particularly to a member for locking to the beam of a building a supporting member for the temporary scaffolding upon which the workmen stand during the building operation.

The objects of the present invention are, to provide a locking member which will readily accommodate itself to beams of various dimensions; which will be quickly and easily positioned and removed; which will be cheap and simple of manufacture, as well as possessing the strength necessary to support a substantial amount of weight; and which will be brought into firmer engagement with the beam by the application of an increasing pressure on the scaffold.

Another object of the invention is to employ a metallic plate which is attached to the supported member and prevents enlargement or distortion of the openings in the supported member, which are provided to receive the locking member when said supported member is subjected to the strain incident to the placing of a weight thereon.

A further object is to provide a toothed plate, which is attached to the supported member, and acts, when weight is applied upon the supporting member, to bite into the supporting member, thus providing a further means of locking the supported member to the supporting member.

The invention further consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a plurality of supports in operative position, and a plank, forming the scaffolding, in place thereon; Fig. 2 is a side elevation on a somewhat enlarged scale, showing the supported member secured to the supporting member by the locking mechanism of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a sectional detail, showing the locking member in operative position with respect to the supporting member; Fig. 4 is a perspective of the plate secured to the supported member; and Fig. 5 is a perspective of the toothed member employed with the supported member.

In the course of building-construction, it is necessary at intervals to erect a temporary scaffolding in order to enable the workmen to perform certain operations. This temporary scaffolding has to be frequently moved into different posit-ions. Difficulty has been experienced in providing means for locking the brackets or supporting members for the scaffolding to the beams of the building in a manner to enable a ready removal of said supporting members, and also in a manner to permit the locking means to readily accommodate themselves to different thicknesses of beams. The present invention is designed to overcome these difliculties, as well as to provide means for locking the supporting member to the beam in a manner to provide strong and rigid connection therebetween, and also to construct this locking mechanism of a plurality of parts, which will be cheap and simple of manufacture, and possess the necessary strength to enable them to endure a long period of usage without being rendered inoperative.

As shown in the drawings, the scaffolding is supported by a beam 6 of the ordinary type utilized in building-construct-ion; and

secured to said beam, as shown, is a triangular bracket 7 which forms a support for a plank 8 forming a temporary scaffold. The bracket 7 is secured to the beam 6 by means of a locking member 9, which is formed of a bar 10, having one end 11 bent to form a hook 12, which partially surrounds and embraces the beam 6. The opposite end of the bar 10 is bent at right angles to the hooked end, to form a finger 13, which engages with the bracket 7 and cooperates with the hook 12 to rigidly lock the bracket 7 to the beam 6.

In applying the device of the present in vention, a board 14 is temporarily secured to the beam 6, this board being provided with a hole 15, through which passes the body of the bar 10. Since no portion of the weight on the scaffold is brought to bear on this board, it need not be rigidly secured to the beam, so that its removal is a simple matter. The vertical leg of the bracket 7 is provided with a slot 16 registering with the hole 15, and the body portion of the bar 10 also passes through the slot 16. Secured to the interior face of the bracket 7 is a plate 17 formed of portions 18 and 19 extending at right angles to one another, the portion 18 being provided with a slot 20 adapted to register with the slot 16, and the portion 19 being provided with a plurality of holes 21 adapted to register with a plurality of holes 22 formed in the hor1 zontal leg of the bracket 7. The plurality of holes 21 and 22 are provided to enable the locking member to readily accommodate itself to various sizes of beams, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth.

In positioning the bracket 7 with respect to the locking member 9, the finger 13 is passed through the slots 16 and 20, and the bracket moved toward the beam 6 until the finger 13 is in position to register with one of the series of holes 21 and 22. The entire bracket 7 is then moved downward until the finger 13 projects through a selected set of the holes 21 and 22 and into the position shown in Fig. 2. A locking pin 23 is then passed through a hole in the upper end of the finger 13 and the retraction of the finger through the openings prevented. The slots 16 and 20 are provided in order to permit the up and down movement of the bracket, which is necessary in order to position and remove the finger 13 with respect to the holes in the upper leg of the bracket. The lower end of the horizontal leg of the bracket has fixed thereto a plate 24 with a toothed edge 25. This toothed edge is adapted to bite into the member sup-porting the bracket, when a weight is brought to bear upon the bracket, and provide a secondary or auxiliary means of locking the bracket in position. The pivotal point of movement of the bracket in and out from the supporting member will be around the lookany slippage up and down of the bracket with respect to the member supporting it.

As more clearly shown in Fig. 3, the hooked end 11 of the member '9 partially surrounds and embraces the beam 6, and the finger 13 extends at right angles to the hooked end and projects through and is secured to one of the legs of the bracket 7. Thus sidewise movement of the bracket 7 is prevented by the embracing upon three sides of the beam by the hooked end 11, and is further prevented by the projection of the finger 13 through the vertical rail of the bracket. While the toothed surface 25 heretofore described serves in a manner to prevent movement of the bracket 7, the greatest strain is brought to bear upon the locking member 9, and it is this member which primarily serves to rigidly position the bracket 7. \Vhen pressure is applied to the bracket 7, it will draw the hooked end 11 of the locking member into close engagement and tight impingement with the beam 6, and the greater the weight placed upon the bracket, the greater will be the impingement of the hooked end against the beam, and the greater the resistance will be tending to overcome any movement of the bracket 7 with respect to the beam.

It is understood that throughout the specification and claims the term supported member refers to the bracket 7 or an analogous device, and the term supporting mem ber refers to the beam 6 or an analogous device. It is understood that in order to provide a complete support for the scaffold, two of the brackets 7, together with the look ing attachment therefor, must be utilized; but since each bracket is secured to the beam by exactly similar devices, only one has been described.

The metallic plate 17 is utilized in order to prevent the spreading of the grooves 16 and the holes 22, which would otherwise occur during usage, since the constant pressing of the metal of the locking member against the unprotected wooden surface of the bracket would in time compress the wood at the points of engagement of the locking member with the bracket and so widen the openings at these engaging points, and thus allow play of the bracket with respect to the locking member, which would render the bracket loose, and, of course, make it undesirable as a support for a scaffold. By the use of the met-a1 plate, however, a metal edge is provided, against which the locking member bears, and hence the spreading of the openings is obviated.

It has been found in building-construction that the bracket must at times be supported by means of various diameters, as, for instance, 2X4; and 2x6. It is for this reason that a plurality of holes, 21 and 22, are employed. As shown in Fig. 2, the finger 13 is projecting through the outer holes 21 and 22. In this instance, the bracket is attached to, say, a 2X4: beam. However, when it becomes necessary to attach the bracket to a 2x6 beam, the finger 13 is brought into register with the inner of the holes 21 and 22, thus enabling the hooked end 11 of the looking member to project farther back from the bracket, whereby it will accommodate itself to a beam of greater dimensions. While only two sets of holes, 21 and 22, have been shown, it is understood that as many of these holes can be provided as desired, so that the bracket may be capable of attachment to any form or size of beam.

I claim:

In a device of the class described, the combination With a Wooden bracket member, of an L-shaped metallic plate adapted to be secured at the upper inner corner of the bracket member, said L-shaped member being provided With an elongated slot in its vertical leg and a series of holes in its horizontal leg, the vertical leg of the bracket being provided With a slot registering With the slot in the L-shaped member, the horizontal leg of the bracket being provided With a plurality of holes registering With the holes in the L-shaped member, means for removably securing said L-shaped member to the bracket, a locking member in the form of an integral rod, one end of said rod being upturned to provide a finger adapted to be inserted in any selected of said holes, said finger being of a size to pass through said slot, the other end of the rod being bent back upon itself to form a U adapted to embrace a studding, and removable means adapted to be attached to said finger to prevent Withdravval of the finger through the hole through Which it has been inserted, substantially as described.

WILLIAM A. SCHOENING.

Witnesses WM. P. BOND, EPHRAIM BANNING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

" Washington, D. G. 

